PM Modi to begin 3-Nation visit today, first Indian PM to visit Palestine

Posted on: 09-02-2018 , 02:13:PM | DY365 Bureau

picture courtesy: Internet

February 9, 2018: Six months after his ground-breaking visit to Israel, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will leave today on a three-nation tour that will take him to Palestine on a short, but hugely symbolic visit before traveling to United Arab Emirates and Oman.

"This will be the first ever Prime Ministerial visit to Palestine from India," PM Modi said in a statement about the visit that New Delhi has described as "historic".

From New Delhi, PM Modi will travel to Jordanian capital Amman and take a chopper ride to reach the Palestinian city of Ramallah a little over 100 km away. The city in the West Bank, which hosts the Palestinian Authority's presidential headquarters, also serves as its de facto capital.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who met PM Modi in Delhi last year, has welcomed the Indian leader in what he has described as "a significant" visit by a "grand guest".

But before PM Modi sits down for formal discussions with President Abbas, the Indian Prime Minister will lay a wreath at the memorial for Yasser Arafat, who headed the Palestine Liberation Organization and later also headed the Palestinian National Authority till his death in 2004.

It is a visit that is being keenly watched from across the over 700-km long security barrier edging the West Bank as well. PM Modi's Palestine visit comes just weeks after he hosted Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu in Delhi and his home state, Gujarat.